Gage Wilkinson’s 2024 IFComp Review

Hello all,

I’m new to the comp but would love to contribute some thoughts on some of this year’s works. Better late than never… I don’t have a particular review format yet but will provide my thoughts.

Will update as I play through some stories.

Thanks :smiley:

12 Likes
The Dragon of Silverton Mine

The Dragon of Silverton Mine tasks a wizard (the player) with saving mine workers from a collapsed mine after a dragon attack. Short and sweet, this approximately hour long story has charm.

The story blends choice-based fiction, with a few bells and whistles, with the more open-ended exploratory structure of parser-based fiction. A clean, consistent, and simple interface facilitates this kind of interaction without getting in the way of enjoying the story.
The player navigates the story by clicking on hi-lighted prose and a few meta-action buttons at the bottom of the screen. One of the most off-putting aspects, for me, of parser-based fiction is when you develop a long list of failed actions and it forms a long list that breaks the immersion of the story. Silverton Mine avoids this by having each action display its consequences below the descriptive text of the scene and replacing it after every action.

The story can be broken down into two types of interaction: Exploratory and Narrative. The exploration gameplay creates that open-ended feel of parser fiction. Every so often an interaction will trigger a narrative scene that tells a small, linear, story. Which I think is a great way to blend these two types of experiences.

I really enjoyed the ability to combine items. Allowing two items you find to be put together to form a “key” for a puzzle. Silverton Mine also does a great job at the delicate balance between items being to obvious of a solution and making you think just a little about what your reading.

All and all, a small story well worth the time played.

Recommend :smiley:

7 Likes
Birding in Pope Lick Park

I’ve not been in the mood/headspace for a lot of the more ‘serious’ content heavy work this year. So Birding in Pope Lick Park was a stand out to me as a story I wanted to play.

It is a very relaxed experience where one goes birding in a park. As the name on the tin suggests. I very much enjoyed exploring an actual park, and the game in some ways serves as an intro to birding.

I’ve always found that stories about an activity can really get me interested in whatever activity the story is about.
I never really had an interest in bartending until watching the anime Bartender, then I found myself reading up on how cocktails are made. Similarly, while I really love nature, I haven’t ever found myself interested in birding specifically but will definitely do a bit of reading on it after this.

The only hiccup I ran into was playing the game on my phone. When looking at the birds the images resized my screen very awkwardly. I was able to still play through it still so not game breaking.

All-in-all a relaxing experience in a park :smiley:

Recommend.

8 Likes